Saturday, June 26, 2010

I found this very nice blog on DAWN Website about seashells on Karachi’s shores - some jagged and gnarled, others smooth and shiny – and sun-kissed brilliance - by Sehar Ali.

My happiest childhood memories are of weekends at the beach in Karachi.

Pakistan was the another country in the 1970s –– a time when it was thinkable for two young women to pack a picnic basket and head for the beach for overnight stay.

The two women were my mother, Ghazala, and her best friend, Rehana, whom our family fondly knew as Kitten. Kitten Khala owned a flourishing garments export business which was able to afford her the luxury of renting a hut at Sandspit beach. This was our weekend getaway, and Karachi was safe enough a city in those days for a group of women and children to stay overnight at the beach.

Sometimes, Kitten Khala’s mother would also accompany us, and I have fond memories of Nano in her limp cotton sari hiked up to her ankles, its starched crispness turned soggy by the salty ocean breeze, collecting shells off the beach. It was she who introduced me to the cowrie, the most magical of seashells.

I disagree. Karachi was more liberal in 1960s and 70s then now!!! Women use to wore jeans, stay overnight, enjoy life etc. And now, they really cant think of staying overnight and at the beach camp....